Nelson, now the Golden State Warriors' coach, claimed the money was owed to him from his time with the Mavericks from 1997-2005. The arbitrator, retired Judge Glen M. Ashworth, also rejected Cuban's claim that Nelson used "confidential information" to help the Warriors upset the top-seeded Mavs in the first round of the 2007 playoffs.

While the matter was resolved Thursday when the ruling was handed down, there are still plenty of hard feelings.

"He's relieved but feels that it never should have come to this, that Cuban had withheld this money really out of spite and it was just unnecessary," Nelson's attorney, John O'Connor, said by phone from his San Francisco home on Friday. "So, while Nelson's happy and relieved, he's not happy that he had to go through this and that Cuban would do this. We consider it a pretty shameful episode."